SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Texas law enforcement officials say several Mexican drug cartels are luring youngsters as young as 11 to work in their smuggling operations.Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told Reuters the drug gangs have a chilling name for the young Texans lured into their operations. "They call them 'the expendables,'" he said.

McCraw said his investigators have evidence six Mexican drug gangs -- including the violent Zetas -- have "command and control centers" in Texas actively recruiting children for their operations, attracting them with what appears to be "easy money" for doing simple tasks. "Cartels would pay kids $50 just for them to move a vehicle from one position to another position, which allows the cartel to keep it under surveillance to see if law enforcement has it under surveillance," he said.

"Of course, once you're hooked up with them, there's consequences." McCraw said 25 minors have been arrested in one Texas border county alone in the past year for running drugs, acting as lookouts, or doing other work for organized Mexican drug gangs. The cartels are now fanning out, he said, and have operations in all major Texas cities. This month, "we made an arrest of a 12-year-old boy who was in a stolen pickup truck with 800 pounds of marijuana," he said. "So they do recruit our kids."

McCraw says the state of Texas is joining a program initiated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection called "Operation Detour," in which law enforcement officers meet with children and their parents in schools and at community centers to warn them about the dangers of what appears to be the easy money the Mexican drug gangs offer. Law enforcement officers say children are less likely to be suspects than adults, are easily manipulated by relatively small sums of money, and face less severe penalties than adults if arrested.

Last month, Texas officials released a report indicating Mexico-based drug gangs are intent on creating a "sanitary zone" on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, and are "intimidating landowners" in south Texas into allowing them to use their property as "permanent bases" for drug smuggling activity.

Also 800 lbs. (about 360 kilos) of marijuana is a joke. That's not what the cartels are making their money off of, that was a test run or a decoy.

About 75 miles from the Mexican border, Brooks County is not a border county but it contains the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint. Smugglers constantly try to get around that checkpoint and evade local law enforcement. Illegal immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, Pakistan, India, Africa, China and elsewhere turn up day and night. Rival gangs fight for valuable Brooks County territory to smuggle and also to steal oil from the oil fields and tap pipelines. Decaying human remains litter the landscape. The cost of autopsies and burials of illegal immigrants and the medical treatment of smuggling survivors drain the County’s meager budget.

What a weird bunch of dudes. WE AIM TO TAKE DOWN LAW ENFOREMENT OFFICIALS AIDING CRIMINAL CARTELS AND DESTROY PEDOPHILE RINGS WHEN WE'RE NOT MAKING 14 YEAR OLD GIRLS CRY! LAWWWWWL!_________________Once, at a local NOW meeting where I was the only male among about a dozen women, a feminism trivia contest was held. I came in third.

What a weird bunch of dudes. WE AIM TO TAKE DOWN LAW ENFOREMENT OFFICIALS AIDING CRIMINAL CARTELS AND DESTROY PEDOPHILE RINGS WHEN WE'RE NOT MAKING 14 YEAR OLD GIRLS CRY! LAWWWWWL!

Just like regular superheroes. I mean seriously Superman is a dick._________________A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want? ~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

That's probably anywhere from $160,000 to $480,000 wholesale or less, depending upon quality. When you're buying in that kind of volume the price is only going to be a few hundred per pound.

Also I was calling the amount seized a joke. Sorry if that was unclear.

Based on what? Bulk discount or no, at your highest estimate there you have them selling 1 ounce at 37.50. That is cheaper than an eighth for an entire ounce. I'm interested in how you came up with those numbers._________________

Based on what? Bulk discount or no, at your highest estimate there you have them selling 1 ounce at 37.50. That is cheaper than an eighth for an entire ounce. I'm interested in how you came up with those numbers.

Last time I talked to someone from Cali pot was $60 for an oz. or less. A person I know that used to live in key west said a bushel of pot (about 32 lbs.) went for $3,000.

Here in the North East, you shouldn't being paying more than $800 or so on a lb.

Based on what? Bulk discount or no, at your highest estimate there you have them selling 1 ounce at 37.50. That is cheaper than an eighth for an entire ounce. I'm interested in how you came up with those numbers.

Last time I talked to someone from Cali pot was $60 for an oz. or less. A person I know that used to live in key west said a bushel of pot (about 32 lbs.) went for $3,000.

Here in the North East, you shouldn't being paying more than $800 or so on a lb.

Just saying that prices can vary A LOT.

I suspect that he said oz and meant eighth. An ounce in oregon is considered an insanely good deal at 200 bucks and its everywhere here and about half as much as it costs in texas._________________

Based on what? Bulk discount or no, at your highest estimate there you have them selling 1 ounce at 37.50. That is cheaper than an eighth for an entire ounce. I'm interested in how you came up with those numbers.

Last time I talked to someone from Cali pot was $60 for an oz. or less. A person I know that used to live in key west said a bushel of pot (about 32 lbs.) went for $3,000.

Here in the North East, you shouldn't being paying more than $800 or so on a lb.

Just saying that prices can vary A LOT.

I suspect that he said oz and meant eighth. An ounce in oregon is considered an insanely good deal at 200 bucks and its everywhere here and about half as much as it costs in texas.